Page 40 of The Cowboy's Christmas
He’d snagged a pipe cleaner out of the box and now bent it into an arc before pressing it into the snow. “How’s that?”
“Really good,” Sophie told him. “Put his necklace on.”
Quinn wrapped the garlands around the snowman’s neck, then the three of them backed off to admire their creation.
“He’s nice,” Sophie said.
“Too bad he’s not real,” Jessa added.
Quinn assumed that by real, she meant come-to-life real. Some things he could do, others…not so much. “Hey. It looks like your aunt might be done with the cleaning.”
And since another storm was brewing, he was anxious to get on the road and make it to town before it hit. Hopefully it would only drop a few inches of snow, like this one had.
He walked the girls to the door, then asked them to stay on the porch while he did a recon of the situation.
Savannah was just emptying a bucket of tomatoey water into the sink when he pushed open the door. The cupboards and floor were damp and clean.
“I’m bringing the girls in. Their mittens are wet.”
She brushed the hair from her forehead with the back of her hand. “We just got done.”
“Hey, guys,” Quinn said over his shoulder. “You can come in.”
“Walk carefully,” Savannah added as the girls scampered into the kitchen. “The floor is wet. Go shed your stuff in the mudroom.” After her nieces disappeared into the room where the outdoor gear was stowed, she turned back to Quinn. “Thanks for helping out.”
“It was fun,” he said honestly.
“You’re good with kids.”
“You were spying on us?”
Her cheeks warmed. “Only to make certain they weren’t running roughshod over you.”
“Like I told you, the Nearys have grandchildren on the ranch. I’m an old hand at kid wrangling.”
“It shows,” she said.
“Did you give Deke a time-out?” The man was nowhere to be seen.
“No,” she said dryly. “But I wanted to. He’s trying to do too much.”
“Don’t break his spirit,” Quinn warned.
“Thin line to walk.” He bent to look through the kitchen window at the gray sky over the mountains. “I need to get going. There’s a storm coming.”
“Let me know what it looks like on your end before you leave Marietta tomorrow. If it’s bad, and you insist on coming, I’ll meet you with the tractor.”
“Cattle need to be fed and injured men need to take it easy. I’ll be here.”
*
The second flurryof the day, like the first, dropped a few inches of wet snow and moved on. No wind, no drifts. In the evening, before dinner, Savannah drove the tractor to the highway to make certain that Quinn had tracks to follow the next day when he came in.
Deke had been a touch subdued since the tomato incident. She didn’t know if he was embarrassed, or simply hurting, so she asked him.
“I’m coming to grips with reality,” he said. “When Quinn leaves, we’re going to have to hire someone for a few weeks, and we need to start looking now.”
For a moment, Savannah simply stared at him. Was this her uncle speaking?
